The Frost Alchemist

Chapter 5: Assingment

It was three days after I became a State Alchemist, the Elrics decided to visit Alex and me, they were coming tonight.

"Levy, the Elrics will be here soon," Alex said to me. He was standing outside my door which was closed. I was wearing my outfit that I got at the store. I stood up and opened my door, Alex was in his uniform as usual. 

"You look nice," he commented.

I just shrugged before walking down the stairs and to the entryway, it only took  few minutes before the doorbell to ring. Alex walked over to the door and opened it. "Elrics!" he shouted before hugging (picking up off the floor and squeezing) which ever Elrics were in the front.

"Armstrong!" Edward yelled and smiled, before walking over to them and tapping Alex on the shoulder. He looked down at me and then set them all on the ground.

"Thanks, Levy," Winry said. "Oh Levy you look nice." 

I smiled.

"Nice clothes although personally I would've chosen something different," Edward said.

"Brother, you have no sense of style. Levy, those look great," Alphonse said. 

Again I smiled.

"Nice clothes," Trisha commented as she looked at me.

"Come on! Dinner's ready!" Alex shouted before walking into the dining room. We all followed behind him.

Thankfully the dinner was rather peaceful and everyone was talking. Soon dinner was over and we were cleaning up.

"Levy, would you like to go on a walk?" Edward asked and by his tone, I didn't have much of a choice on the matter. I nodded and we walked outside together. We walked in silence for a while. Edward saw a bench and sat down on it without saying anything to me. I sat down next to him.

"Levy, why don't you talk? Why do you choose not to say anything?" he asked.

"If you lost Alphonse that night, would you have much to say about anything?" I asked in return.

"I guess you're right," he replied.

"And besides I killed my sister twice," I stated.

Edward took a deep breath. "You didn't kill her twice."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees. "When Al and I were kids, we tried to transmute our mother."

"The end result being Al stuck in a suit of armor and you without  leg or arm."

"Yes, but years later I dug up what Al and I transmuted. The bones proved the thing was too tall to be out mother, the hair color was wrong, and it was a male. So we found out that it's impossible to drag an entire being back over, because what is equal to a human life?"

"So I...?"

"No. While we were in Briggs Olivier showed us where you tried to transmute your sister. Winry said the bones belonged to a child who was ten or eleven."

"My sister was only six."

"Yes and we also thought she would have your hair color, Olivier said that the hair color was black."

"So I didn't kill her twice?"

"That's right and you can't blame yourself for her death either."

"It was my job to take care of her."

"You were nine Levy, that's impossible to do. How long did you take care of her before that?"

"Just a year."

"Then you gave her a year more than she would have had if you did nothing. Don't blame yourself."

"If Alphonse died that night wouldn't you blame yourself? If he died on your watch wouldn't you take the blame upon yourself? Wouldn't you feel at fault? Aurora was all I had left. She was everything to me. She was the reason I woke up in the morning, she's the reason I worked crap jobs that paid nothing. She was my reason for living, she was the only thing that kept me moving." Tears started to flow down my face. I couldn't help, but feel my utter sadness mixed with anger.  I stood up and moved so I could stand in front of him. "I wasn't like you Edward! I didn't have friends who helped! I didn't have anyone who cared about me! I had my sister!  We had nothing! That place you found those bones in was where we lived! We had no money for a house, let alone a real home! I lost everything when she died! Why don't you understand that?!"

He stayed quiet for a minute and then he just stood up and hugged me. "Just let it out Levy. You refused to cry when you should have, it's okay to cry, it okay to feel pain and the hurt. No one will think less of you. You went through more in a few years than a lot people have in their entire lives. You lost your entire family, you went through a human transmutation, you survived when anyone else would have died, you went through the surgery and came out and started going three months later. I didn't even do that. You have been strong for far too long." As he spoke I let the tears I held back for years fall. After a while I stopped crying and Edward let me go.

"Such a down mood," a voice commented and then I saw a man who was obviously from Xing and some ninja looking person with a mask on walk into the light.

"Ling?" Edward asked.

"Hello!" he replied. 

"Lan Fan is that you?" Ed asked the the ninja. The person pulled off the mask revealing a Xingese woman.

"Hello Edward, been a long time hasn't it?" the girl, Lan Fan, asked in return.

"Uh guys this is Levy Armstrong, Olivier adopted her a couple years back, she's the country's newest State Alchemist. Levy this is Emperor Ling Yao of Xing and his guard Lan Fan, they're old friends of mine," Ed said. 

"Ling is the half brother of May, Alphonse's wife. They both came here searching for immortality, actually competing against each other so that their clans could win. However in the end they joined forces and Ling swore to protect May's clan," I stated. They all stared at me with wide eyes. "Olivier explained it to me."

"Um," someone behind us said. I turned and saw a man standing wearing a military uniform. "Is the Frost Alchemist here?" he asked hesitantly.

I walked forward and held out my hand.

"Pocket watch?" he asked. 

I sighed before pulling it out ans showing it to him.

"You are to report to the train station at ten tomorrow morning," he said as he handed me a letter and then quickly walked away. 

"What does it say?" Ling asked. I gave the letter to Ed.

"Damn it Mustang," Ed said as he crumpled the letter in his fist.

"What is it?" Lan Fan asked.

"He's sending her west, there's been trouble there lately and he wants her to help stop it," Ed spat.

"Don't be mad at Roy, Edward," someone said as they walked over. I realized that it was Riza.

"Well Sparky is going to here one from me, the west is no place for a kid right now," Ed stated.

"She's a State Alchemist Ed, besides you were in worse areas when you were known as Fullmetal," she replied.

"Yeah, but I had Al," he argued.

"Ed, I have my orders and I'm not going to disobey them. I should go back to the mansion and get rest if I'm to leave in the morning. Goodnight all of you and Ling and Lan Fan, it was a pleasure to meet you both," I said and then I gave a small bow before I left.